DATE: May 4, 2026
TO: Mayor and Members of the City Council
President and Members of the Estero Municipal Improvement District (EMID) Board of Directors
VIA: Stefan Chatwin, City/District Manager
Marlene Suhashini, Assistant City/District Manager
FROM: Bejamin Stock, City Attorney/District Legal Counsel Andrew Brozyna, Public Works Director
DEPARTMENT: City Attorney
Public Works
SUBJECT: AUTHORIZING EXECUTION OF A PROJECT LABOR
AGREEMENT (PLA) BETWEEN THE CITY OF FOSTER
CITY/ESTERO MUNICIPAL IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT AND
THE SAN MATEO COUNTY BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION
TRADES COUNCIL FOR THREE (3) CITY/DISTRICT PUBLIC
WORKS PROJECTS
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that City Council/EMID Board of Directors adopt the attached resolution authorizing the Mayor/President to enter into a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) with the San Mateo County Building and Construction Trades Council for three (3) City/District Public Works Projects.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
At its November 4, 2024 meeting the City Council directed staff to negotiate a PLA with the San Mateo Building Trades Council. The proposed agreement is a result of negotiations between representatives of local labor Unions and the San Mateo Building and Trades Council and City Staff. It establishes various requirements for the employment of union labor on three (3) City/District Projects over the next five (5)
years. The purpose of the agreement is to promote the efficiency of construction operations for the City/EMID through the use of skilled labor resulting in quality construction outcomes. It establishes a framework for resolving labor disputes and grievances without strikes or lockouts, thereby supporting the public interest in the timely and cost-effective completion of each Project covered by this Agreement.
BACKGROUND/ANALYSIS
A PLA is a pre-hire collective bargaining agreement between one or more labor organizations and a public agency that establishes the terms and conditions of work for the construction of select capital projects. PLAs are also known as project stabilization agreements, labor stabilization agreements, community workforce agreements, or may take another similar name.
Construction projects can involve multiple contractors and trades, have critical timelines for completion, and require a skilled and properly trained workforce to ensure successful and timely completion. Local governments can require that recipients of government funding for a construction project use PLAs to help manage the uncertainty and delays that can come from having so many contractors and trades involved. If that local government requires PLAs, the local government entity can enter into an agreement with a union or group of unions, such as an area trade union council, prior to soliciting bids from contractors to do the work. The PLA would then be included into the bid specifications – ensuring that any prospective bidder or contractor interested in submitting a bid understands that the job will require union labor.
A PLA typically includes the following provisions:
• Standards for wages and benefits;
• Provisions that prohibit workers from engaging in strikes, work stoppages, slowdowns, and other dispute mechanisms;
• Requirements that contractors hire workers who are referred from union hiring halls; and
• Dispute and grievance resolution procedures.
At the City Council meeting on August 19, 2024, former Councilmember Hindi requested, and a majority of the Council supported, a future agenda item to discuss union labor agreements (or PLA) for large projects. On November 4, 2024 City Council provided direction via a 3-1-1 vote, to negotiate a PLA with the San Mateo Building Trades Council to have a 5-year term duration minimum and priority for local workforce hires in Foster City, San Mateo County, and the greater Bay Area.
In accordance with Council’s direction, staff (City Manager, Assistant City Manager, Public Works Director and the City Attorney) met with labor union representatives to discuss and negotiate a PLA. The proposed PLA would be executed between the City of City/District and the San Mateo County Building and Construction Trades Council.
Contractors and subcontractors would be required to agree to be bound to the PLA as a condition of performing work on select projects.
The proposed agreement includes:
Provisions related to the use of skilled labor, union referral procedures, wages and benefits
Support for the employment of skilled construction workers from Foster City and San Mateo County
The establishment of a consistent labor relations framework for covered projects, including common procedures for referrals, pre-job conferences, and work assignments
Job creation through the incorporation of apprenticeship, pre-apprenticeship, local hire, and veteran’s workforce provisions
Provisions related to labor dispute resolution, no-strike and no-lockout requirements
To obtain the highest impact of the benefits of a PLA, including minimizing labor disruptions and local job creation, staff recommends three (3) projects in the five-year Capital Improvement Program estimated to total approximately $38.9 million to be included in the PLA due to their size, complexity, and potential for multiple trades to be involved. The agreement would remain in effect through the completion of each covered project. If it is anticipated that if any of the three (3) projects identified will not be advertised for bid by the City/EMID within five (5) years of the effective date of this Agreement, the City/EMID and the Building and Construction Trades Council will meet and confer in good faith to identify a replacement project of comparable type and value to serve as a substitute for that project. If a substitute project is identified, the parties will formalize the substitution through a written amendment to the Agreement. If no substitute project is identified, the City Council will determine whether the Agreement should continue to apply to the original project or whether an alternative project should be designated.
The agreement will cover all construction phases of the following projects (see Addendum B of the agreement):
1. (CIP 301-717) Lagoon Pump Station Seismic Rehabilitation and Capacity Enhancement Project
2. (CIP 455-719) Sanitary Sewer Lift Station Improvements – Phase 6
3. (CIP 301-698) Transportation Safety Signalization Upgrades
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no direct fiscal impact associated with this report. However, the PLA establishes various requirements for the employment of labor on the named projects in the agreement. Costs associated with compliance of these requirements will be borne by each project.
The effect of a PLA on overall project costs varies across studies; some suggest potential cost increases—sometimes estimated in the range of 10 to 20 percent—while others find no significant impact. As a result, actual fiscal impact may vary depending on project and market conditions and cannot be precisely determined at this time.
California Environmental Quality Act
This is not subject to review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Public Resources Code Section 21000, et seq. and the CEQA Guidelines (14 Cal. Code Regs. §§ 15000 et. seq.), including without limitation, Public Resources Code section 21065 and California Code of Regulations 15378 as this is not a “project” that may cause a direct, or reasonably foreseeable indirect, physical change in the environment.
CITY COUNCIL VISION, MISSION, AND VALUE/PRIORITY AREA
Public Safety and Social Equity
Facilities and Infrastructure
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1 – City Resolution
Attachment 2 – EMID Resolution
Attachment 3 – Agreement